


'Til Death Do Us Apart

by booksnerdharrypotter



Series: percy angstson [2]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Dark Percy, Death, Sad, Tartarus, like i cried writing this, percy loses his shit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-23
Updated: 2017-04-23
Packaged: 2018-10-22 23:29:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10707399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/booksnerdharrypotter/pseuds/booksnerdharrypotter
Summary: He was empty, he was gone. And no one could bring him back.





	'Til Death Do Us Apart

_ The  _ arai _ poured out of the woods, making a crescent around them. One grabbed Annabeth’s arm. Annabeth wailed in rage, judo-flipping the monster and dropping on its neck, putting her whole body weight into an elbow strike that would’ve made any pro wrestler proud. _

_ The demon dissolved, but when Annabeth got to her feet she looked stunned and afraid as well as blind. _

_ ‘Percy?’ she called, panic creeping into her voice. _

_ ‘I’m right here.’ _

_ He tried to put his hand on her shoulder, but she wasn’t standing where he thought. He tried again, only to find she was several feet further away. It was like trying to grab something in a tank of water, with the light shifting the image away. _

_ ‘Percy!’ Annabeth’s voice cracked. ‘Why did you leave me?’ _

_ “I didn’t!’ He turned on the  _ arai _ , his arms shaking with anger. ‘What did you do to her?’ _

We did nothing _ , the demons said.  _ Your beloved has unleashed a special curse – a bitter thought from someone you abandoned. You punished an innocent soul by leaving her in her solitude. Now her most hateful wish has come to pass: Annabeth feels her despair. She, too, will perish alone and abandoned.

_ ‘Percy?’ Annabeth spread her arms, trying to find him. The  _ arai _ backed up, letting her stumble blindly through their ranks. _

_ ‘Who did I abandon?’ Percy demanded. ‘I never –’ _

_ Suddenly his stomach felt like it had dropped off the cliff. _

_ The words rang in his head:  _ An innocent soul. Alone and abandoned. _ He remembered an island, a cave lit with soft glowing crystals, a dinner table on the beach tended by invisible air spirits. _

_ ‘She wouldn’t,’ he mumbled. ‘She’d never curse me.’ _

_ The eyes of the demons blurred together like their voices. Percy’s sides throbbed. The pain in his chest was worse, as if someone were slowly twisting a dagger. _

_ Annabeth wandered among the demons, desperately calling his name. Percy longed to run to her, but he knew the arai wouldn’t allow it. The only reason they hadn’t killed her yet was that they were enjoying her misery. _

_ Percy clenched his jaw. He didn’t care how many curses he suffered. He had to keep these leathery old hags focused on him and protect Annabeth as long as he could. _

_ He yelled in fury and attacked them all. _

_ For one exciting minute, Percy felt like he was winning. Riptide cut through the  _ arai _ as though they were made of powdered sugar. One panicked and ran face-first into a tree. Another screeched and tried to fly away, but Percy sliced off her wings and sent her spiralling into the chasm. _

_ Each time a demon disintegrated, Percy felt a heavier sense of dread as another curse settled on him. Some were harsh and painful: a stabbing in the gut, a burning sensation like he was being blasted by a blowtorch. Some were subtle: a chill in the blood, an uncontrollable tic in his right eye. _

_ Seriously, who curses you with their dying breath and says: I hope your eye twitches! _

_ Percy knew that he’d killed a lot of monsters, but he’d never really thought about it from the monsters’ point of view. Now all their pain and anger and bitterness poured over him, sapping his strength. _

_ The  _ arai _ just kept coming. For every one he cut down, six more seemed to appear. _

_ His sword arm grew tired. His body ached, and his vision blurred. He tried to make his way towards Annabeth, but she was just out of reach, calling his name as she wandered among the demons. _

Percy stumbled forward to Annabeth, stabbing any of the cursed hags who came his way. One lunged forward, flapping its wings, and bit him on his leg. With a piercing screech, the monster turned to dust. Looking up, he saw Annabeth wildly edging to the cliff face once again without realising. Percy’s face turned into one of extreme horror, and he tried to reach her even more desperately.

_ ‘Annabeth!’  _ he screamed. His voice was growing hoarse from the deadly air, but he needed to warn his girlfriend. ‘Watch where you’re going!’

The  _ arai _ stopped their maddened attack to watch Percy’s ever growing dismay; their cackling breaking the otherwise silent planes. The son of Poseidon continued trying to rush forward, but it was to no avail: Calypso’s curse wasn’t alleviating. Sickening horror descended upon him and he abruptly stopped in his tracks. Annabeth’s foot had stumbled down the edge of the cliff face, and her body was following along with it. Shock was marring her beautiful face as she fell.

‘Percy!’ Annabeth yelled; his name being her last word she ever muttered.

Freed from his mind- numbing paralysis, Percy ran forward and look over the side of the cliff. All he could see was the toiling red and black clouds that hung in the space between him and the love his life. With growing dread, he knew that she had passed on.

And it was all his fault.

\---

Somehow, Percy escaped from Tartarus with the Doors of Death shut behind him. He doesn’t even really know how he made it out, nor did he really care. He hadn’t uttered a single word since the night Annabeth had surrendered to Thanatos, and he wasn’t planning on doing so anytime soon.

Percy Jackson had become a shell. He was empty, he was gone. And no one could bring him back.

\---

The building and upgrading of Camp Half- Blood was slow on the best of days, and downright tedious on the worst. Percy helped in every way he could, if only to distract himself from his woes and sorrow. The hard labour of using mallets and elbow grease kept him busy and without thought. It felt good to be able to build something for once, rather than to destroy.

Yet he still had not said a single word, nor even made a guttural noise in acknowledgement when people talked to him. He could hear the whispering of course, he would be damned if he hadn’t.

_ Broken. _

_ Lost. _

_ Deranged. _

Of course, many didn’t know why the oh- so- great Percy Jackson had completely “lost his marbles”, and the new campers made special assurance to stay away from the empty look they found in his eyes.

‘We’re here to help you, Perce,’ those select few said, but why did their eyes say something completely different? Why did they have to look at him with pity and treat him as if he were but a child? He hadn’t gone through Hell and lost everything for nothing.

They did  _ try _ to help, but when he wouldn’t- couldn’t -talk, what was the point in continuing? He was given up for a lost cause.

There was only one person Percy wanted, but she was gone, gone,  _ gone. _

The world was as twisted and cold as he had hoped it never would be, and it was too good to be true to believe that it one day might get better. It was so very unfair that he was still living and breathing while she wasn’t here anymore. This world was just so cruel.

The bags under his eyes were about the only emotion that Percy even had anymore; he was empty. He hardly slept anymore, the too- real nightmares causing him to wake up in a cold sweat, with the blankets wrapped between his sock- clad feet. It would be too soon when the shell that was once- a- hero cracked and everything would come spilling out.

Camp was home, it was safe. It was a place to breath and put mortal difficulties behind you; to not have to hide from who you truly were and what direction destiny was taking you in. He was always surrounded by people and was never alone- but why did it feel the opposite?  Percy didn’t feel  _ any _ of that secluded happiness anymore. He began to fear that he would drown in this place and nobody would even notice because  _ oh my gods how can I keep going if I already am slowly sinking _ .

He wasn’t living, only surviving.

Percy had not really decided, but more so processed the idea that he didn’t really have a future in store for himself anymore. It would only be too soon when the Fates decreed that he would be sent to the Oracle for another bunch of mysterious rhyming words that would be signing his death warrant.

The beach by Long Island Sound was the only real place of solitude he could have. Yeah, the sea nymphs were crazy flirts, but even they understood that the son of their Lord needed some alone time. He kept himself grounded to this gods-forsaken world by constantly digging his fingers into the sand from the Sound, the various rocks hidden within tearing at his palms and leaving silky trails of rich, red blood.

Lunch’s conch horn sounded in the distance, but Percy couldn’t bring himself to go. He wasn’t hungry, in fact, he had completely lost his appetite. It was such a mortal and trivial thing to have to do- eating -wasn’t it?

‘Percy?’ someone asked, their voice soft so as to not scare him. It didn’t work.

The son of Poseidon was up in a flash, his ballpoint- pen- turned- sword coming to rest at the person’s throat. Jason. He sighed in resignation and shrunk his weapon to its original form, and placed it within the folds of his pocket. He raised his eyebrow in question, his eyes still haunted and empty.

‘Leo’s home and he’s still  _ alive _ . I still can’t believe it and well… We thought you’d want to come and see him and the girl he’s brought? She’s awfully nice and I think it would be good for you if did come.’

Percy was almost grumpy: since when did  _ Jason _ know what’s the best for him? He wasn’t a doctor, no? And it almost certainly unfair that Leo was still alive and kicking- and bringing home a girl to boot- when  _ she _ wasn’t allowed to. She was still gone, gone,  _ gone _ .

He nodded his head imperceptibly, black hair falling into his eyes. He probably should get it cut, but  _ she _ always said it had looked better when it was slightly longer, anyway. My gods, how Percy missed her and her-  _ no _ . Don’t make things even worse by thinking of her.

The two demigods trod over the dirt- packed ground and towards the Camp interior. The nearby nymphs and dryads gave them a wide berth, no doubt wanting to be away from the hero- who- had- turned- insane.

Of course, he had accepted the darkness, it was better than having to  _ feel _ . He greeted it as an old friend, and let it divulge him of his essence; partially some of the reason why he was so gods- damn empty. He was a walking- mortal embodiment of Nyx herself; mostly, however, he was forsaking himself and others the long chats and death- defying threats that she was prone to.

Percy stopped in his tracks as they reached the dining pavilion and noticed the girl Leo had brought home. It  _ couldn’t _ be her, she was the reason that he had lost the love of his life. He so desperately needed to know why she had cursed himself and his beloved so dearly. The ground lifted dust as he took slow steps, so as to warn the two newcomers of his arrival. Jason followed close behind in case of an emergency.

‘Hi, Percy,’ the she- demon whispered. Calypso.

The demigod shook with untold rage and for the first time in months, his eyes held emotion: a deep, blinding anger.

‘What are  _ you _ doing here?” Percy asked, his voice hoarse from disuse for so long. “Why are you here?’

Calypso had the semblance to look shocked, her tanned skin glinting in the sunlight as she took noticeable steps away from the fuming son of the sea god. ‘I… what? What do you mean what am I doing here? Leo rescued me from the confines of Ogygia.’

‘You shouldn’t be here. Haven’t you done enough already?’ Percy was liking this letting- out- your- feelings- while- yelling thing he had going on; it was an absolutely marvellous way to get rid of steam.

‘Percy, I’m lost. What have I done?”

‘What haven’t you done? You’re the reason that  _ she’s _ gone! If you hadn’t given me that blasted curse, she wouldn’t have had to pitch over the side of the cliff and be gone from me for the rest of my life!’

Jason and Leo were staring at Percy as if he had grown an extra head. He could feel that scary power within his innards, that dark magic that he had unleashed upon Akhlys with no one to stop him; if he could control poison, what about controlling blood?

Calypso looked horrified. ‘Oh, the curse… Percy you have to believe me, it wasn’t meant to hurt anyone. I was just angry with the gods.’

‘Well your anger got the love of my life killed! Annabeth is dead and it’s all because of your curse! And I couldn’t save her in time; that was all my fault.’

Percy collapsed to his knees, shaking and sobbing as he fell. While it felt wonderful to vent all his anger out, it hadn’t achieved anything. Except for scaring the Hades out of the other demigods, of course.

‘Come on, Perce. Let’s get you to the infirmary and to find Will. We can continue talking about this later.’ Jason said, wrapping his hands under his arms and trying to lift him up from the ground.

‘Get your hands off of me, I am  _ not _ a child for you to coddle.’ If looks could kill, the son of Zeus would have died then and there. He took away his hands, and took a slow step back away from his grieving friend. However, Jason stopped dead when Percy continued speaking.

‘I never wanted to be a hero. I never wanted  _ any _ of this.’ Percy shook his head slowly, his voice muffled by sobs. ‘I always knew I was different from others, but it was never a good thing. Being a demigod was a life I didn’t want to lead, but I hung around for my friends. Particularly Annabeth and Grover. I knew mom was always worried for me and I knew her anxiety had good basis behind it; how many parents have we had to tell that their child has died fighting for something that was too much for them? I held strong for everyone.

‘And then I started dating Annabeth and slowly everything got better. Until, of course, my life was thrown around once again.’

Percy paused, his grief evident in the linings of his face and the lacing of his voice. His eyes were dull and stormy, staring at the ground as if afraid to look at the others.

‘The things I saw down there… I’ll never forget the way they destroyed my mind. The only thought that kept me going was avenging Annabeth against those who had a hand in her death. If it wasn’t for the curse… I don’t know if she would still have been here, but I would like to believe it: she was certainly strong enough.’

Jason stared on, horrified, while Calypso had tears leaking from her eyes. Leo looked shocked, and turned his head to speak. ‘Did you really curse them? Even though you knew it would hurt them?’

‘I never meant for anything… Percy I’m so sorry.’ Calypso whispered. ‘I-’

‘I don’t want to hear your excuses. We were friends once, but that was forfeit the day you ruined my beloved’s life.’ Percy finally looked up, his voice heavy. ‘The moment I see you again will be too soon. Come near me again, and I may just show you one of the many tricks I learnt in Hell.’

The son of Poseidon stood up from his dusty perch on the ground and walked towards the cabins. Grover stood right nearby, having listened to everything his friend has said. His arms were widespread, beckoning Percy forward. The demigod threw himself into the hug and lay his head on the satyr’s shoulder. At least his best friend would always be a constant.

Percy’s voice was hoarse and his eyes were downcast, but he had the strength for one last voicing. ‘Thank you.’

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
